We had just finished a fantastic evening barbecue at our Kakadu hostel. Most of us were settling in for an evening of drinking, talking and fighting off insects around the camp fire.

“Come on everyone, let’s go croc spotting” the hostel host said enthusiastically.

“Croc spotting?” someone exclaimed “but it’s night time?”

“Well, you don’t have to if you don’t want to” he said somewhat disheartened before adding. “I just thought you’d like to! Kakadu is another world at night!”

He paused to think of what else he could say to sway those hesitant.

“You don’t know when you will be back? But I’ll leave it up to you. I will be leaving in 10 minutes which will give you enough time to grab a jumper, a torch and put on a pair of walking shoes. Therefore, if you decide to come, you can meet me at the hostel gate”.

I already knew that I wanted to go night croc spotting. After all, I didn’t come all this way to miss out on anything. Off we headed into the darkness, a mini bus-load of city dwellers led by a bearded, bare-footed reptile lover along a moon lit dirt track in search of salt-water crocodiles. After a 15 minute walk which involved brief stops to look at the local flora and fauna including a spider which could have easily slapped someone with one of its huge legs, we arrived at a causeway.

“This is close enough I think” said our host. The causeway can be crossed by foot during the dry season, but as we weren’t quite in this season yet the causeway still had water rushing over it. Apparently it was a great fishing area. Unfortunately, we were told that only the week before a young boy was taken by a crocodile while fishing with his father here.

Our host spotlighted the causeway with his torch. We were about 50 feet away from it. A long, rough, grey croc tail disappeared over some rocks. This brought gasps of ‘wow’. It truly was an incredible sight to see a crocodile in its natural habitat. He then scanned the river with his torch.

“Look” he said excitedly “see those two orange snake eyes?”

I squinted into the darkness until I saw those two orange spots.

“Well that’s a croc” he said “and a bloody big one too”.

“How can you tell?” someone asked.

“The larger the eyes the bigger the croc. I’d say that one is at least 6 foot long, even more”.

“Wow” someone said. Wow seemed to be the word of the evening as most of us stumbled for words describe what we were seeing.

The area turned out to be mission control for our crocodile spotting. We all took turns standing next to our host looking at those illuminated, transparent, marble-like eyes. They were hypnotising. I felt like a kangaroo staring into some headlights.

More pairs of orange marbles appeared hovering in the darkness ahead of us. There must have been at least a dozen. No doubt, the buggers were thinking, food, succulent live food of all shapes and sizes, all waiting for an underwater roll. I was glad they were all over there and we were here.

“Have you ever smelt croc before?” our host suddenly asked.

“No” someone said, and I thought, I don’t think I want to.

“Can you smell that briny, salty water smell?”

I stuck my nose out into the darkness and let the smell fill my nostrils. It was an odour I was familiar with. It was similar to the smell of drying seaweed on a beach. Yeah I can smell that briny, salty water smell which intensified the longer I smelt it. No cause for alarm though I thought, after all, we have kept our distance.

“RUN” our host yelled.

It took a few seconds for what our host just said to register, but when it did, I and everyone else joined our host high tailing it back up the track. Whether this was a joke or not I am not sure. However, if you take a trip into Kakadu and your host of the hostel asks you to come for a walk to do some night croc spotting make sure you stay behind him at all times.

Kensington Palace stands at the western end of Kensington Gardens. It was originally a private country house called Nottingham House but was acquired in 1689 by William III and Mary II (1689) because the King’s asthma improved there during the winters. Sir Christopher Wren was engaged to design improvements to the house and the Clock Court and the South Front, including the 96-foot Long Gallery were added. After William III’s death in 1702, the palace became the residence of Queen Anne. Wren designed the Orangery for her and a 30-acre garden was laid out by Henry Wise. Further extensive alterations were carried out for George I and William Kent painted the elaborate trompe l’oeil ceilings and staircases. The last monarch to live at Kensington Palace was George II, whose consort, Caroline of Ansbach helped develop Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens and the Serpentine, Basin and Grand Vista and the Broad Walk were created for her. The sudden death of George II in 1760 marked the end of an era. Kensington Palace was never again to serve a reigning monarch.

Queen Victoria spent her childhood at Kensington Palace and it was here in June 1837 that she learned of her accession to the throne and moved to Buckingham Palace. The palace was most famously the London home of Diana, Princess of Wales and is still home to several other hanger-on members of the Royal Family.

Kensington Palace first opened to the public in 1912 with a display of relics and objects relating to the City of London. It attracted 13,000 visitors in just one day. The museum pieces now form part of the collection at the Museum of London. Visitors today can see the State Apartments, the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection that includes outfits from the eighteenth-century to the present day, the Orangery and sunken gardens.

Kensington Palace opens daily. 10:00-17:00 (Nov-Feb) 10:00-18:00 (Mar-Oct). Closed 24-26 Dec. Tube: Queensway, Notting Hill Gate or High Street Kensington. Enquiries: 020 7937 9561. Entrance: Adults £10.80, Students and Snr Citizens £8.20, Child: £7.00 Under 5s: FREE.

A group of US researchers at Cornell University have identified a novel approach to conservation called Pleistocene wilding.  They have developed an initiative that involves placing lions, cheetahs, elephants and camels in some parts of North America.

The plan would help endangered African animals while offer ecotourism and land-management jobs to help the struggling economies of the Great Plains and Southwest as well as helping to maintain ecosystems and boost biodiversity.

During the Pleistocene age, between 1.8 million to about 10,000 years ago, North America was home to a wide range of mega fauna.  When man arrived around 13,000 years ago he hunted the American cheetah and a type of camel to extinction.  The disappearance of these extinct creatures has left gaps in the ecosystem.  The pronghorn, for example, which exists today, an antelope-like animal for example has lost its natural predator. 

By introducing living counterparts to the extinct animals, the researchers say, these voids could be filled. So, by introducing free-ranging African cheetahs to the Southwest, strong interactions with pronghorns could be restored, while providing cheetahs with a new habitat.  Other living species that could “stand in” for Pleistocene-era animals in North America include feral horses, wild asses, Bactrian camels, Asian and African elephants and lions.

“Obviously, gaining public acceptance is going to be a huge issue, especially when you talk about reintroducing predators,” said lead author Josh Donlan, of Cornell University. “There are going to have to be some major attitude shifts. That includes realising predation is a natural role, and that people are going to have to take precautions.” Dr Donlan said that large tracts of private land are probably the most promising place to start, with each step carefully guided by the fossil record and the involvement of experts and research.

“We are not advocating backing up a van and letting elephants and cheetah out into the landscape,” he said. “All of this would be science driven.”

Need a vacation but don't want to stay around town?  Want to go somewhere exotic, somewhere different?  Want to fly but worried about the airfare?  Sourcing the cheapest airfare available has been made easier with competition growing between travel agencies as people realize that a vacation need not be all that expensive.  With so many travel companies vying for your business, securing a cheaper airfare is a given!

The airline companies set airfare prices, with travel agents adding a mark up to the wholesale price. You should always check whether the advertised price of an airfare includes government taxes or duties, so you may need to add these into your airfare budget.

Aside from the airline companies and travel agencies setting the price, it is important to be aware that many things determine airfare prices, but the most important influence on price is the final destination. Other influences include but are not limited to:

• The type of airline class you prefer; do you want comfort or are you ok with being a tad squashed
• The location of your seat; window seat or inside
• The time of day you are prepared to travel; day or night
• How close you book to your departure date – booking closer to your departure date may increase your airfare unless you secure a last minute deal
• Whether your airfare is part of an all inclusive holiday package; more often than not for these all inclusive packages the airfare has been given with a huge discount as a deal between the resort or hotel, the airline and travel agent.

Therefore, being the money savvy person that you are, you should take into consideration all of the above points before you start searching for an airfare that fits within your budget.  Researching airfare is critical to securing the cheapest rate and these days, research is made a good deal easier thanks to the internet. 

Increasingly, last minute deal websites are being developed and there are some great bargains to be had particularly with regard to airfare rates. Checking often and subscribing to these last minute deal web sites will ensure that your vacation is one to remember without the added burden of over spending on airfare!

Corsa Dirfes is the owner of http://www.airfareson.com which is a premier resource for Airfares information.  For more information, go to http://www.airfareson.com

West Java is one of the five provinces of Java, Indonesia. Bandung is the capital city. The greater part of west Java is mountainous, with the Priangan highlands forming the core territory. 21 mounts can be found here, most of which are classified as active volcanoes and have become an integral part of tourism in the West Java province.

Mount Tangkuban Perahu (capsized boat) is one of them. A smouldering 2000m wide, surrealistic volcano 1800m above sea level, it lies 28 km north of Bandung reachable within 30 minute ride.

The Legend of Sangkuriang

This is an example of how nature was converted into a legend, such as Bandung lake and Mt Tangkuban Perahu with the story of Queen Dayang Sumbi and her son Sangkuriang cited from Neuman va Padang (1971). Once Sangkuriang, whilst growing up, he was so naughty and got hurt and the wound formed an ugly scar.

The King, who loved his son above everything was so furious that his son had hurt himself that he rejected his wife.  Fifteen years later, being of age, Sangkuriang asked his father permission to take a trip to West Java.  After arriving in the plain of Bandung, he met a beautiful lady, fell in love and ask her to marry him and she accepted.  But one day when she caressed her lover's head she saw the wound. The loving woman, turned out to be the disowned queen, discovered that she was in love with her son and marriage was impossible.

The marriage had to be prevented. Not willing to admit that she was his mother she thought of a way out. The day before the wedding was due to take place, she said to her husband to be, tomorrow is our wedding day, and if you are true to your love to me and love me as much you say do then I want to celebrate the wedding on board a ship, a proa.  Tomorrow morning at day break, I want to sail with you on a great lake in a nice boat and there must be a banquet feast.  Sangkuriang was embarrassed but he was not willing to refuse.  He begged the help of the lake's helpful spirits. By causing a landslide, the lake spirit dammed the river Citarum that flowed through the plain of Bandung.  The force of the water felled big tree and a boat was constructed while other lake spirits prepared the wedding banquet.

Early in the morning the Queen saw that the impossible had been realised so she prayed to Brama, the mighty God, to help her to prevent the disgrace of a marriage between a mother and her son.  Brama destroyed the dam in turbulence and Sangkuriang was drowned.  The queen in her agony threw herself on the capsized boat, breaking through the hull of the ship and was also drowned.

Now, the vast plain of Bandung is flanked on its north side by the volcano Tangkuban Perahu, the  capsized boat.  The Queen's jump on the hull of the ship is the Kawah Ratu, the crater of the Queen.  The hot fumaroles and tremors in the crater represent the tears of the sad mother still sobbing.  East of Mt Tangkuban Perahu rises the Bukit Tunggul, trunk mountain, the trunk of the tree from which the boat was made and to the west we find Mt Burangrang, the “crown of leaves”.  At many places along the shore of the lake Neolithic obsidian tools of primitive inhabitants are found and described by von Koeningswald (1935).  These Neolithic people noticed that the hold was cut deeper and deeper by erosion caused by the lowering water. Finally only a marshy plain remained.

Centuries later the inhabitants of Bandung plain still know about the legend of the existence of a former lake. Not knowing anything about geology, but living in the taboos of spirit ghosts and Gods, geological facts were put together in a tale that was understandable.

If you are thinking of holiday trip, or even just information on any travel requirements in Java especially Indonesia, please do not hesitate to contact me. I'll be most happy to assist you. Tedy can be contacted by e-mail as follows: abctour_td@cbn.net.id.